Chinese New Year's Eve, garden on the west side of Luoyang City, West Garden.

At the end of the year, the temple was solemn and solemn, and even the confused emperor Liu Hong put away his laughing and scolding appearance, and he had no expression for a whole day, and he barely pulled out a smile at night, and he didn't know what he thought.

For Ma Yue, the more interesting dance is the dance to ward off the plague of the coming year, a group of court warlocks wearing masks dancing around the fire, children holding paper ghosts or bamboos thrown into the fire, when the bells on all sides of Luoyang City ring in the sky, the fire is blazing and reflected on everyone's face is red.

This is the Eastern Han Dynasty, the third year of Zhongping.

According to the etiquette system, the gifts given to His Majesty by the ministers on this day are all prey, and geese, elk, and lambs are presented according to the size of the official position. To Liu Hong, these are nothing, but such a ritual that is more important than the actual meaning of the convention makes Liu Hong smile and make everyone in the place happy.

On the bell tower in the center of the West Mansion, Li Jian stood alone against the wind and snow, listening to the third bell in Luoyang City and pushing it violently, "Bang! The ground rang the yellow bell Da Lu, and in the continuous bell ringing, the guards of the entire Xiyuan shouted in unison, no matter where they were, Long live Your Majesty, and the sound overshadowed the waves.

"The palace banquet begins, and the minister is seated!"

Jian Shuo stood solemnly at the entrance of the palace, his sharp eyes swept over every minister who entered the palace, this moment was extraordinary, he was not afraid of assassins mixed in, he had enough confidence in the defense of his subordinates, he was just used to looking at everyone except Liu Hong in the West Garden with interrogative eyes.

When he saw Ma Yue, Jian Shuo rarely squeezed out a flash of a smile on his unruly face.

Hundreds of officials were listed, and Ma Yue sat in the front row, under the generals of the Three Princes and Nine Qings, but he was relatively high among the secretaries. Sitting next to him was Bao Hong, the right wind, although the two of them were considered robes, but they did not leave a good impression on the battlefield of Jizhou that year, he just said hello and stopped talking.

It is rumored that Bao Hong embezzled more than one million military funds, but the way is different and they do not conspire with each other.

Before the banquet, Liu Hong gave some precepts, this year, the country and the people are safe, pray for good weather in the coming year, and so on.

In fact, it's all bullshit, the people of Liangzhou are still living in dire straits, and the more Ma Ma can't see where Guotai Min'an is. Last year, Sanfu had a locust plague in Liangzhou, and the rebels in Liangzhou were hungry and ran out of military food, so they rushed out of Longguan and caught Bao Hong, who was on the right side of the wind, off guard before the autumn harvest, and left more than 20,000 corpses to snatch the ears of wheat that the people of Sanfu had planted hard for a year and still had green stubble.

When he was about to be imprisoned, Ma Yue consulted the relevant tax classics, and the land rent levied by the imperial court was not high, thirty taxes one, but many places would levy more. The poll tax is a boulder that the people can't breathe on their heads, and each adult man has to pay 300 yuan a year after paying 200 yuan, the children have to pay 23 yuan, and the unmarried girl has to pay more money.

At the beginning in Liangzhou, more than ten members of the Ma family had to pay 5,000 yuan a year to pay taxes, and if they relied on a little thin land in the family, they were afraid that Ma Yue and his brothers would sell themselves into a wealthy family as a family soldier.

Therefore, Ma Yue was not in a relaxed mood sitting here, especially when he listened to others singing praises to Liu Hong.

Not long after, the palace banquet began, and hundreds of officials toasted Liu Hong, Empress Dowager Dong, and Empress He together.

Empress He got up and smiled at Liu Hong: "Your Majesty, the concubine has long heard that she will be a master craftsman's bravery, why don't you please be a master craftsman sword dance, what does Your Majesty think?" ”

Ma Yue was bored, and his eyes widened suddenly, he hadn't retaliated against He Miao yet, what was Queen He going to do? Are you so unpleasant? Normally, there are indeed people dancing swords to help the fun during the banquet, but it depends on the identity of the samurai, if Ma Yue is the main wine banquet, it doesn't matter if Yang Feng and Yan Xing fight, after all, Ma Yue is the main and Yang Feng is the servant. This truth is also suitable for the palace banquet, but the problem is that Ma Yue is one of the two thousand stone princes in the imperial court, if Liu Hong says this, Ma Yue naturally has nothing to say, but let Queen He bring it up, the insult will be great. Ma Yue was afraid that Liu Hong would nod his head, and Queen He would casually send a servant out to let her compete with the sword, which was really a shame to push and grind with her bare feet and turn in circles.

Liu Hong pinched his chin in his hand, looked at Ma Yue with a smile, and asked, "What does Ma Qing think?" ”

After he had said all this, Ma Yue got up and arched his hand and said, "But with Your Majesty to drive." ”

"Good!" Liu Hong clapped his palms, as if he couldn't see what Queen He meant, and said, "Who does Ma Qing want to dance with the sword?" Who here is planning to do this? ”

He Jin got up and said, "Your Majesty, there is a warrior named Wu Kuang under the command of the minister, who has excellent swordsmanship and can dance with the horse generals. ”

He Jin didn't want to take revenge on Ma Yue, he didn't have any hatred with Ma Yue, he was just too worried about his sister saying this, what if Your Majesty let He Miao compete with Ma Yue...... He Miao's martial arts are good, but this is the palace sword dance, he can't win, and he can't lose.

Liu Hong didn't like it if he won, and he lost face when he lost. What's more, Ma Yue and He Miao still have an enmity, what if Ma Yue is killed?

"What is the position of the warrior that the general said?" Liu Hong asked.

"It's a subordinate of the minister's office."

"Funny!" Liu Hong glanced at He Jin and asked, "Doesn't the general know what your noble identity is?" Dancing with your subordinates is just funny! ”

When Ma Yue heard Liu Hong say this, he was secretly glad in his heart, Liu Hong still saw the idea that He Hou wanted to insult himself, and Ma Yue did not expect that the opponent was two thousand stones, as long as he was not a slave, it was fine. He was a little familiar with the name Wu Kuang, although he didn't know what it was for, but as long as the person who had heard the name fought with him, then he reluctantly accepted it, and was about to agree, when he saw Liu Hong smiling at Ma Yue.

"In this way, let Ma Qing and He Yueqi dance together!"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was shocked!

Before He Jin could answer, Ma Yue had already jumped out of the column and said, "Your Majesty, the minister can't use a sword, please use a knife!" ”

Liu Hong clapped his hands and applauded: "Okay, come here, give me the sword armor!" What weapons does He Qing use? ”

He Jin didn't expect such a result, Ma Yue was famous for being a general, and he was afraid that his younger brother would lose, so he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, He Yue and Ma will be both humerus, if there is a mistake on both sides, it will be a loss for the court......"

"The general doesn't need to say anything, the minister will offer a sword dance for His Majesty and the Queen! Your Majesty, the minister begs for a Han sword! ”

He Jin was about to say anything more, his eyes widened when he heard the words, if it weren't for the emperor and the empress sitting, he would have scolded He Miao a long time ago, there is always family affection without blood, although he always can't control his angry temper When his younger brother makes a mistake, he will fist and kick each other, but it is always his younger brother!

He Miao stood proudly in the hall, standing side by side with Ma Yue, although his head was only on Ma Yue's shoulders, but his spine was straight.

'I'm a bastard, yes, you can look down on me. But I, He Miao, have never been afraid of anyone over the years! ’